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bat

1 American  
[bat] / bæt /

noun

  1. Sports.

    1. the wooden club used in certain games, as baseball and cricket, to strike the ball.

    2. a racket, especially one used in badminton or table tennis.

    3. a whip used by a jockey.

    4. the act of using a club or racket in a game.

    5. the right or turn to use a club or racket.

  2. a heavy stick, club, or cudgel.

  3. Informal. a blow, as with a bat.

  4. any fragment of brick or hardened clay.

  5. Masonry. a brick cut transversely so as to leave one end whole.

  6. British Slang. speed; rate of motion or progress, especially the pace of the stroke or step of a race.

  7. Slang. a spree; binge.

    to go on a bat.

  8. Ceramics.

    1. a sheet of gelatin or glue used in bat printing.

    2. a slab of moist clay.

    3. a ledge or shelf in a kiln.

    4. a slab of plaster for holding a piece being modeled or for absorbing excess water from slip.

  9. batt.

verb (used with object)

batted, batting

  1. to strike or hit with or as if with a bat or club.

    Synonyms:
    clobber, clout, slug, sock, smack, swat, wallop, knock

  2. Baseball. to have a batting average of; hit.

    He batted .325 in spring training.

verb (used without object)

batted, batting

  1. Sports.

    1. to strike at the ball with the bat.

    2. to take one's turn as a batter.

verb phrase

  1. bat around

    1. Slang. to roam; drift.

    2. Informal. to discuss or ponder; debate.

      We batted the idea around.

    3. Baseball. to have every player in the lineup take a turn at bat during a single inning.

  2. bat in to cause (a run) to be scored by getting a hit.

    He batted in two runs with a double to left.

  3. bat out to do, write, produce, etc., hurriedly.

    I have to bat out a term paper before class.

idioms

  1. at bat, at bat.

  2. go to bat for, to intercede for; vouch for; defend.

    to go to bat for a friend.

  3. bat the breeze. breeze.

  4. right off the bat, at once; without delay.

    They asked me to sing right off the bat.
bat 2 American  
[bat] / bæt /

noun

  1. any of numerous flying mammals of the order Chiroptera, of worldwide distribution in tropical and temperate regions, having modified forelimbs that serve as wings and are covered with a membranous skin extending to the hind limbs.

idioms

  1. blind as a bat, nearly or completely blind; having very poor vision.

    Anyone can tell that he's blind as a bat, but he won't wear glasses.

  2. have bats in one's belfry, to have crazy ideas; be very peculiar, erratic, or foolish.

    If you think you can row across the ocean in that boat, you have bats in your belfry.
bat 3 American  
[bat] / bæt /

verb (used with object)

batted, batting

  1. to flutter; blink; wink.

idioms

  1. not bat an eye, to show no emotion or surprise; maintain a calm exterior.

    The murderer didn't bat an eye when the jury announced its verdict of guilty.
bat. 4 American  

abbreviation

  1. battalion.

  2. battery.

bat 1 British  
/ bæt /

noun

  1. any of various types of club with a handle, used to hit the ball in certain sports, such as cricket, baseball, or table tennis

  2. a flat round club with a short handle, resembling a table-tennis bat, used by a man on the ground to guide the pilot of an aircraft when taxiing

  3. cricket short for batsman

  4. any stout stick, esp a wooden one

  5. informal a blow from such a stick

  6. a small board used for tossing the coins in the game of two-up

  7. slang a drinking spree; binge

  8. slang speed; rate; pace

    they went at a fair bat

  9. another word for batting

  10. cricket (of an opening batsman) to reach the end of an innings without being dismissed

    1. of one's own accord; without being prompted by someone else

    2. by one's own unaided efforts

  12. informal immediately; without hesitation

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

verb

  1. (tr) to strike with or as if with a bat

  2. (intr) sport (of a player or a team) to take a turn at batting

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
bat 2 British  
/ bæt /

noun

  1. any placental mammal of the order Chiroptera , being a nocturnal mouselike animal flying with a pair of membranous wings (patagia). The group is divided into the Megachiroptera ( fruit bats ) and Microchiroptera ( insectivorous bats )

  2. slang an irritating or eccentric woman (esp in the phrase old bat )

  3. having extremely poor eyesight

  4. informal to be mad or eccentric; have strange ideas

  5. slang very quickly

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
bat 3 British  
/ bæt /

verb

  1. to wink or flutter (one's eyelids)

  2. informal to show no surprise or concern

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
bat More Idioms  

    More idioms and phrases containing bat

Other Word Forms

  • batlike adjective

Etymology

Origin of bat1

First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English noun bat, bot, batte, Old English batt, perhaps from Celtic; compare Irish, Scots Gaelic bat, bata “staff, cudgel”; Middle English verb batten, partly from the noun, partly from Old French batre; batter 1

Origin of bat2

First recorded in 1570–75; apparently from Scandinavian; compare dialectal Swedish natt-batta, variant of Old Swedish natt-bakka “night-bat”; replacing Middle English bakke, bak (from Scandinavian), Middle English balke for unrecorded blake, from Scandinavian; compare dialectal Swedish natt-blacka, Old Icelandic ledhr-blaka “bat,” equivalent to ledhr “skin, leather” + blaka “flutter”

Origin of bat3

An Americanism dating back to 1835–40, extended sense of earlier “flutter like a hawk” first recorded in 1605–15; variant of bate 2

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Fakhar, restored to open after batting in the middle order against England, played his part with some crisp ball striking en route to 84 off 42 balls.

From BBC

Ahmed's success with the bat against the Black Caps raises the possibility of him batting in the top seven - but again that is not straightforward.

From BBC

In 2007, he was given a police award for bravery after tackling a robber who was attacking a delivery man with a baseball bat.

From BBC

Here he emerged to bat with England needing 43 runs from 19 balls and hit his second ball high over long-on for six to reignite a chase.

From BBC

Archer, who began by beating the bat four times in a maiden, was unlucky not to take a wicket early, which allowed Tim Seifert and Finn Allen to build a partnership of 64.

From BBC

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.